Teen Vogue, which is said to be striving to overcome a shallow reputation to become a prominent political voice for America's youth, has published an editorial deriding the recent March Against Sharia protest as "hate speech."
Pamela Geller writes, "Iconic institutions like Teen Vogue who should be on the vanguard in the information battle-space, are disarming young girls in the war for their freedom and their future."
Writing in Sunday's online edition of the fashion mag, Firdaus Arastu and Asma Uddin, the Director of Strategy for the Center for Islam and Religious Freedom, claim that Sharia is nothing to be afraid of:
"For many Americans, it sounds scary — we hear tales of a system where hands are chopped off and adulterers are stoned. But this is not the sharia of America. Sharia is a set of legal rules that deal with a range of issues from the minutia of washing hands and feet to purify oneself before prayer to inheritance rules. It’s also about spirituality."
The previous day's March Against Sharia took place in 25 cities across America. The protest was sponsored by freedom fighter Brigitte Gabriel's nationwide ACT for America organization, which the editorial writers hasten to point out has been declared a hate group by the so-called watchdog organization Southern Poverty Law Center, considered an irrefutable source by the mainstream media.
The SPLC labels opponents of sharia law and of fundamentalist Islam as hate groups, but despite the hundreds of "hate groups" listed on their site, examination by watchdog watchdogs has revealed that "a large number" of organizations on the SLPCs list "are either unconfirmed or consist of a single individual".
The Teen Vogue writers' solution to "anti-Muslim hate" is to drive out the “bad” speech with “good”: "To overcome polarizing speech, we need unifying speech. This good speech can include educational efforts. For example, on the question of sharia — the topic of Saturday’s marches — there is wide space for people to learn more about what sharia is."
Pamela Geller responds to the assertions, "Sharia in America is forced marriage. Sharia in America is female genital mutilation. Sharia in America is polygamy. Sharia in America is prohibiting the freedom of speech. Sharia in America is living under a fatwa for criticism of Islam."
Act For America founder and chairwoman and leading terrorism expert Brigitte Gabriel wrote, in a recent Breitbart News article, that her organization’s protests were about “protecting women and children from Sharia law and its impact on Muslim women and children, including honor killing and Female Genital Mutilation.”